Midtown Tunnel/HRBT top priorities for the region

A computer model has concluded what transportation planners and elected officials have long thought: Expanding the Midtown Tunnel and the Martin Luther King Freeway on the South Side is Hampton Roads' highest transportation priority.

Expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, the region's top chokepoint, tops the list for interstate projects but comes in second in the overall rankings.

For over a year, the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization, which helps set the region's transportation priorities, has been working with a computerized model designed to assist them with the task.

The group's board, which consists of local mayors and country administrators, has sought to find a unified approach for the region's transportation needs that is conscious of the scarce amount of money available for road construction.

The effort has exposed the delicate bonds between the Peninsula and South Hampton Roads, which are supposed to work together to determine the region's transportation needs. South Side officials, led by Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim, have consistently argued against expansion of the HRBT out of concern that the roadwork would demolish homes in Norfolk.

The computer model — which judged the value of each project on the criteria of useage, economic benefit and feasibility — concluded that the Midtown Tunnel was the prime candidate for expansion. Private proposals are already in the works to expand the crossing, which connects Norfolk and Portsmouth. Former Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer said in 2009 that expanding the Midtown Tunnel should be the region's highest priority.

The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was launched to the forefront this past fall when a consortium of private developers submitted an unsolicited bid to to expand it from four to eight lanes. Del. G.Glenn Oder, R- Newport News, ushered a bill through the General Assembly this past spring that allowed the submission of private bids to expand the tunnel.

"I don't think anybody is going to be surprised the that the number one interstate project is the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel," Oder said on Saturday.

Oder agreed with the computer model's conclusion that the Midtown Tunnel should be the first overall priority.

"I think that of all the projects that need to be built right away, the Midtown Tunnel is the number one project. We ought to be doing everything we can to build that road," Oder said.

Transportation officials placed interstate projects like the HRBT in a separate category for the computer model testing as opposed to roads like the Midtown Tunnel, which are state-controlled. Tolling and expanding interstates requires federal approval, which can delay the road construction process.

Closely behind the Midtown Tunnel for state-controlled roads was expansion of Dominion Boulevard in Chesapeake.

The private proposal to expand the HRBT calls for a toll of $4 to $6. The figure has caused consternation, but Oder cautioned that the figure excludes any state investment.

"This would be like purchasing a house and not having any down payment," Oder said. "We have to wait for other contractors to submit a proposal to find as many ways possible to put money into the HRBT and bring the toll down."

Scoring lower than expansion of the HRBT in the computer model's ranking was the building of a third crossing for Hampton Roads. While the third-crossing project scored well in terms of usage and economic benefit, the computer model showed that finding funding for the project would be difficult.

Dwight Farmer, executive director of the HRTPO, said that despite the rankings, the HRBT and third-crossing proposals were still relatively close. The difference, he said, was the availability of a private funding source for the HRBT.

"You're really in the same league," Farmer said. "They're really very comparable to each other, both of the projects have a substantial utility."

HRTPO will discuss the computer rankings when it meets Wednesday in Chesapeake.